Feds pay millions due to deadly HPV shot

After declaring a popular vaccine to prevent a sexually transmitted disease safe for girls and boys as young as 11, the federal government has now paid almost $6 million to victims of the shot – including at least two who died after receiving it.

And the government hasn’t even settled half of the 200 claims against it.

The public interest law firm Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain documents with that information from the Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS.

The documents show that HHS’s National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, or VICP, has awarded $5,877,710 to 49 victims in claims made against the HPV vaccines. That includes payments for two claims of death caused by the vaccine.

Judicial Watch found:

Only 49 of the 200 claims filed have been compensated for injury or death caused from the HPV vaccine. Of the 49 compensated claims, 47 were for injury caused from HPV vaccine, the additional two claims were for death caused due to the vaccine.

Ninety-two (nearly half) of the total 200 claims filed are still pending. Of those pending claims 87 of the claims against HPV vaccine were filed for injury, the remaining five claims were filed for death.

Fifty-nine claims have been dismissed outright by VICP. The alleged victims were not compensated for their claims against the HPV vaccine. Of the claims dismissed, 57 were for injuries, two were for deaths allegedly caused by the HPV vaccine.

The amount awarded to the 49 claims compensated totaled $5,877,710.87. This amounts to approximately $120,000 per claim.

VICP compensates those harmed by certain vaccines. The HHS website describes the program as a “no-fault alternative to the traditional tort system,” covering 16 types of vaccines, including HPV.

As WND has reported, the federal government has recommended the HPV vaccination for girls and boys as young as 11. But it has caused thousands of adverse reactions, including seizures, paralysis, blindness, pancreatitis, speech problems, short-term memory loss, Guillain-Barré syndrome and even death.

“At present there are no significant data showing that either Gardasil or Cervarix (GlaxoSmithKline) can prevent any type of cervical cancer since the testing period employed was too short to evaluate long-term benefits of HPV vaccination,” according to the Annals of Medicine.

Referring to the information on the damage claims, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said, “This new information from the government shows that the serious safety concerns about the use of Gardasil have been well-founded.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, said the HPV vaccine is used to protect against cancers caused by sexual contact.

It reports 53 percent of girls ages 13 to 17 received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine in 2011.

The CDC recommends girls ages 11 to 12 receive three doses of the vaccine. It also recommends the vaccine for females ages 13 to 26 who did not receive the vaccine when they were younger, and for males ages 11 to 21.

The recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics that boys 11 and 12 should be immunized routinely for HPV is a new development WND reported on Feb. 27.

A few years ago, children received just a handful for vaccinations for such diseases as polio, smallpox and tetanus.

Those vaccinations are for diphtheria and tetanus, whooping cough and measles, chickenpox and bugs that cause meningitis, pneumonia and diarrhea, and some are given a number of times.

And now, a vaccine against anthrax may be added to the mix.

A presidential ethics panel recommends testing an anthrax vaccine on children as young as infants, WND reported yesterday. Critics say that would make children guinea pigs in a study that might not help them and could harm them.

The rapidly growing list of vaccinations and concerns about potential harm are an increasing worry for many parents.

Many parents are also worried about a possible link between vaccines and autism. And just today, as WND reported, the government released a survey that estimates one in 50 U.S. schoolchildren has autism.

A CDC study WND reported last year put the figure at one in 88. That study was considered more rigorous, but it still meant that the number of cases of autism had doubled in just five years. It also meant one million U.S. children and teens had some form of autism.

Persistent concerns about a possible link between childhood vaccines and autism often involve a preservative called Thimerosal, as WND has reported.

She reports John Hopkins professor Leo Kanner found in 1935 that “the rate of autism in children was zero prior to 1930. Then in 1930, Thimerosal, a mercury containing preservative, was used in some vaccines.”

“In July 1999, the Public Health Service agencies, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and vaccine manufacturers concurred Thimerosal should be eliminated, or at least reduced in vaccines,” Ratner continued.

Another concern many parents have is that a vaccine might encourage risky behavior.

The HPV vaccine is meant to protect against cancers resulting from sexually transmitted diseases, and the CDC is recommending it for girls age 11.

Many parents have expressed concerns that the vaccine could create a false sense of safety and encourage promiscuity.

A study released in October and given much play in the establishment media concluded that an HPV vaccination does not make girls promiscuous.

As CBS reported, the study acknowledges, “The researchers didn’t ask girls about having sex, but instead looked at ‘markers’ of sexual activity after vaccination against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, or HPV. Specifically, they examined up to three years of records on whether girls had sought birth control advice, tests for sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy or had become pregnant.”

The study examined activity indicating the sexual behavior of girls ages 11 and 12 until the time they became 14 and 15.

Whether vaccination has any influence on similar markers of sexual activity in older teens wasn’t examined in the study.